Anticreeper.



F. A. PRESTON.

ANTICREEPER.

APP-Llcnlon HLED APR. |3.19n.

1,268,996. Patented June 1l, 1918.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. PRESTON, OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB, T0 P. c M. COM- PAN'Y, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ANTICREEPER.

Specllcation of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 191 8.

Application filed April 13, 1917. Serial No. 161,726.

T 0 all whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. Pnns- TON a citizen of the United States, residing at llghland Park, in the county of Lake and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Anti creepers, of which. the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in one-piece rail anchors or anticreepers.

The objects o1 the invention are as follows: to provide an anchor of this type which is extremely effective and simple in construction and operation, and which may be economically marmiiactured; to provide a rail Ianchor which may be readily and quickly applied to the base of a rail and which maintains a iii-1n frictional engagement therewith under all conditions of servicc; and to provide a rail anchor which re sists creeping in both directions, and which can be reapplicd successfully.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following descrip'- tion, taken `in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention. It will be readily understood that the construction therein shown is for purposes o1 illustration only and not as defining the limits of the invention, except as pointed ont in the appended claims.

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of one form of the invention;

Fig. 2`is a top plan view thereof; and

Figs. 3 and L1 illustrate another form of the invention.

The rail anchor is preferably formed of a single piece of high tension spring steel arranged to'grip the base of the rail 1, said rail being supported on the usual cross tie 2. In the drawings, the device is shown as provided with a substantially U-shapnd projection 10, which cooperates with the rail to exert horizontal tension on the sides oi." ,llio buse thereof in a manner as hereinafter set forth, said U-shapod portion also serving as a tie abutment for the anchor to transmit the creeping thrust of the rail directly to the cross tio 2. 0n either side of said Ush:iped projection l() and preferably in the salue horizontal. plane, substan tially Hat arms l1 and l2 are provided, said arms being adapted for engagement with the under surface of the rail base, the ends of said arms being bent upwardly and inwardly to form jaws 13 and 11 adapted to embrace opposite sides of said rail base to hold the anchor in firm frictional engagement therewith substantially as shown in Fig. 1. These oppositely positioned jaws are held in firm engagement with the opposite sides of the rail base, by virtue ot' the lateral or horizontal tension exerted by the walls of the U-shapcd projection l0 when the anchor is sprung on to the rail.

The tie-abutting U-shaped projection l0 is preferably positioned to one. side oi' the longitudinal axis of the ruil. In the drawings it is shown positioned substantiz'illy beneath the inner und oi the jaw 14, it being' so positioned in order that tho majority ot' the creeping thrust of' the rail may be 1'e sisted by the jaw 141, in view o1 the power- 'ful gripping action exerted on the rail base thereby.

The anchor shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is applied to the rail hase by rst hookin the jaw 14 over one side oi. said base, as S own in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and then driving said jaw snugly into engagement therewith. The angle of this jaw is normally Smaller than the corresponding angle ot the rail hase, and as a result, said jaw is sp1-ung when forced into position on the rail base, whereby the said jaw vmaintains a powerful ifrictional grip thereon, when the anchor is in operative position. The upper side of the jaw 13 has an inclined wedging surface 15 so that when the jaw 14 is driven into position, said jaw 13 may wedge past the adjacent side of the rail base and may snap upwardly into position thereon. As Shown in Fig. 1, in dotted lines, the arm 11 is sprung downwardly while the jaw 14 is being positioned, resulting in an upward pros sure against the base of the rail by the jaw .l :it the other end of the anticreeper. The ovrrhanging lip of the jaw 13 is sufficiently .short to permit ol' said jaw snapping into position as soon as the jaw 14 has been drivenY into snug engagement with the rail hase, but it' such upward movement is prevented, said jaw 13 may be forced up into postion by means of lining hars or other tools. lt will he noted that the inward movement ol the jaw lll, is taken up by thi` U-shaped portion l0, which fir-ws m 'we )am lISIS toward each other so that the grip of the jaw 14 on the opposite side of t e rail base is not relaxed.

It is obvious that the anchor maintains a firm frictional hold on the rail, regardless of the direction in which the same tends to creep by virtue of the jaw 14, and that the vertical extension at the opposite end maintains the jaw in place. The Ushaped offset 1() permits the anchor to be deformed while it is being applied and also bears against the cross tie 2 to prevent creeping of the rail in the forward direction, indicated by the arrow in Fi 2. In practi'de the projection l() may e frozen in the ballast of the truck and if the traiiie is reversed, thus tending to move the rail rearwardly, the tie abutting projection 10, will resist the creeping thrust in this direction also to some'extcnt.

In Figs. 3 and 4, is illustrated another form of the invention wherein the end of the arm 1l, instead of being provided with a jaw of the kind shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is bent upwardly nud preferably slightly outwardly as shown at 16. This permits the said arm to wedge past the edge of the rail as the anchor is being positioned thereon, and permits said arm to snap upwardly against the base of the rail. The end 16 may then be bent over the adjacent edge of the rail as shown in Fig. 4, by any suitable means, preferably -a maul or heavy hammer, thus clamping the device around the rail base in its operative condition.

It is obvlous that various changes and modifications may be made in .the device as villustrated and described, and I therefore reserve the right to make such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the apended claims.

4 aving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A single piece rail anchor comprising a plurality ofarms, a tension member intermediete sald arms, a jaw at the end of one of said. arms, the end of the other of said arms extending u wardly at an an le thereto and adapted to e bent over the ange of a rail after said anchor has been sprung into position.

2. A single piece rail anchor comprising a plurality o'f arms, one of said arms being provided with a rail base engaging jaw, the other of said arms having its end u turned and adapted to be bent around the iipange of a rail after the anchor has been positioned thereon, and a downwardly proJecti U- shaped meinber joining the inner en of said arms' and adapted to exert a horizontal tension to retain said anchor in, firm frictional engagement. a

3. A rail anchor comprising a single ieca of steel bent intermediate its ends to orin a depending tension member and tie abutment, a rall base engaging jaw at one end and an upturned projection at the other end, said upturned projection being adapted to be bent about the flange of a rail to retain said anchor under horizontal tension.

4. A rail anchor comprising a single piece of flat steel having a I'ail base engagm jaw at one end, the angle of said jaw ing smaller than the corresponding angle of the rail base, and means whereby said anchor snaps into position on said rail base when said jaw is driven into snug engagement therewith.

5. An anticrecper comprising a flat spring steel bar having one end bent to form a jaw which is adapted to grip one side of a. rail base, and a depending Ushaped projection beneath the rail base and adjacent said jaw to transmit the creeping thrust to a tie, the other end of said bar being`bent upwardly and arranged to engage the opposite slde of the rail base and to maintain said jaw in effective gripping position, said upwardly bent end being a apted to be bent over the adjacent flange of the rail after said anchor has been sprung into position.

6. An anu-Creeper comprising a broad fiat steel bar having its ends'bent to form opposed rail base engagin members, and a portion thereof interme iate said ends being bent to form a substantially U-shaped tension member adapted to depend beneath the rail base and to enga one face 0f a` cross tie, the sides of saidgension member lying in close proximity and being substantiaily parallel, and means whereby said tension member is sprung when said anchor is applied to a `rail thereby holding the same firmly in position.

anti-creeper comprising a steel bar having its ends bent to form opposed rail base en aging members, and a portion thereof intermediate said ends being bent' to form a substantially U-shaped tension base and to en age one face of a cross the sides of said tension member he, close proximity an allel, and means whereby ber is sprun when said a rail there y holding the same position.

In witness whereof, I,

hereunto subscribe my name this 10th day of April, A. D., 1917. l

FREDERICK A. PRESTON.

loo

lol

, lll member adapted to depend beneath the' rail l in being substantiullyngare said tension mem-.fil anchor is aiplied 

